Swaging attachment for forming machines

ABSTRACT

A swaging attachment for use on an automatic forming machine and including a quiescent swaging die supported on the machine and a cooperating movable swaging die driven by a drive cam. The drive cam is operatively coupled with the forming machine to reciprocate said movable swaging die to swage a workpiece being fed into said machine.

United States Patent Gordon Del Faro Woodland H1115;

Leo C. Groves, Suuland, both of, Calif. 770,636

Oct. 25, 1968 July 6, 1971 R & R Four-S1ide Corp.

North Hollywood, Calif.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee SWAGING ATTACHMENT FOR FORMING MACHINES 10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 72/452,

10/1 1 Int. Cl B21j 9/18 Field 01 Search .1 72/452,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1922 Smith 10/11 1,581,632 4/1926 De Fries A 72/452 2,122,316 6/1938 Ganio i. 72/452 2,705,333 4/1955 Friedman 10/11 2,911,014 11/1959 Van Nest 72/452 3,094,767 6/1963 Grimm 72/452 3,266,071 8/1966 Nebendorf 10/11 FORElGN PATENTS 294,775 2/1954 Switzerland 10/11 Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-Gene P. Crosby AttorneyFu1wider, Patton, Rieber, Lee & Utecht ABSTRACT: A swaging attachment for use on an automatic forming machine and including a quiescent swaging die supported on the machine and a cooperating movable swaging die driven by a drive cam. The drive cam is operatively coupled with the forming machine to reciprocate said movable swaging die to swage a workpiece being fed into said machine.

PATENTEDJUL-BISYI 3,590,625

SHEET 1 OF 2 INVENTORS. 4'0/D0/V. .061. 5420 BY 1.50 a. 2ores Arron/vs Y3 SWAGING ATTACHMENT FOR FORMING MACHINES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to automatic forming machines such as those generally known in the industry as four-slide machines. More particularly, the invention relates to a swaging attachment for automatically swaging a workpiece being fed into such forming machines.

2. Description of Prior Art The normal practice has been to swage workpieces before the forming operation is commenced, thus necessitating multiple handling of such workpieces. Such prior art procedures present certain problems when the workpiece is a long wire, or the like, and numerous swages are made throughout its length. When the swaged wire is subsequently fed through a forming machine, difficulties are encountered in attempting to maintain an index between the swages and the forming operation. Swaging attachments have been proposed which include Pitman-type linkages, but for the forces required for swaging, such devices have too great a dwell time and cannot be properly lubricated, thus resulting in overheating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION V The swaging attachment of present invention is intended for use with an automatic forming machine and is characterized by a pair of swaging dies, one of such dies being driven by a rotary cam to automatically swage a workpiece against the other die as such workpiece is fed into the forming machine.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially broken-away elevational view of a swaging attachment embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a workpiece which has been swaged by the swaging attachment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a broken elevational view of a second embodiment of the swaging attachment of present invention; and

FIGS. 7 and 8 are vertical sectional views taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6 and showing the swaging attachment in two different positions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the attachment A includes a horizontally elongated housing, generally designated 11, having a quiescent swaging die 13 and a movable swaging die 15 mounted therein. The movable swaging die is engaged by a reciprocal push rod 17 driven by a rocker arm, generally designated 19, which is operated by a cam 21. Thus, a length of wire 23 may be placed on the quiescent die 13 and the movable die 15 reciprocated thereagainst to swage the wire and flatten it, as at 25.

The attachment A is adapted for convenient installation on a forming machine, commonly known in the industry as a four-slide machine which includes four forming members (not shown) that are manipulated on a horizontal table 27 to form the wire 23 into a selected configuration. Such machines include a drive shaft 31 and a drive gear 33 is mounted thereon. The drive gear 33 meshes with a driven gear 35 carried on a rotary shaft 37 which mounts the cam 21.

Referring to FIG. 2, the upper extremity of the rocker arm 19 is received between the tines of a fork 41 formed by the right-hand end of the housing 11. The upper extremity of the arm 19 includes a transverse bore 43 for receiving an eccentric fitting 45. The eccentric fitting 45 is carried on a shaft 47 having its opposite ends received in bores 49 and 51 formed in the lines of the fork 41. Referring to FIG. 2, the rocker arm 19 is somewhat narrower than the yolk 41 and the eccentric fitting 45 is formed on one end with an enlarged hexigon head 51 for receiving an adjustment wrench.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the rocker arm 19 includes a slot 53 extending outwardly from the bore 43 and a set screw 55 bridges such slot for tightening the arm 19 on the eccentric fitting 45. Still referring to FIG. 1, the arm 19 projects downwardly from the shaft 47 to form a lever arm 57 which carries a roller 59 on its lower extremity.

Referring to FIG. 2, the housing 11 includes a longitudinal bore 61 in which the push rod 17 reciprocates. A transverse cavity 63 is formed at the left-hand end of the bore 61 for receipt of the quiescent and movable dies 13 and 15, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 2, a fitting, generally designated 65, includes a push plate 66 having a pair of connector screws 67 which extend freely through bores 69 in the left-hand end of the housing 11, through bores 70 in the quiescent die 13, and screw into the movable die 15. The fitting 65 is biased to the right by a tension sprint 71 sandwiched between the left-hand end of the housing 11 and a washer 72 held under an adjustment nut 73 carried on a mounting screw 75 which is screwed into a bore 77 in the end ofthe housing 1 1.

The swaging attachment A shown in FIGS. 6 through 8 is intended for use with a four-slide machine having a vertical working table 80 and is, itself, oriented vertically. Referring to FIG. 6, the attachment A includes a housing, generally designated 81, having a pair of bearings 83 and 85 on its upper extremity for receipt of a camshaft 87.

Referring to FIG. 7, the camshaft 87 includes a cam 91 for driving a rocker arm, generally designated 93. The rocker arm 93 is supported on its left-hand end from a transverse pivot shaft 95 and carries a cam-engaging roller 97 on its free end. The arm 93 is formed with a downwardly projecting convex bearing surface 97 which is complimentally received in a concave bearing surface 99 formed by the upper end of a reciprocating push rod 101. A connecting link 103 is attached on its upper end to the rocker arm 93 by a pivot pin 105 and on its lower end to the push rod 101 by a pivot pin 107.

The lower extremity of the push rod 101 includes a transverse portion forming a head 109 having a downwardly opening, transverse, dovetail groove 111 (FIG. 6) formed therein. A movable die 113 is connected with the head 109 by means of an upwardly projecting transverse tongue 115 which is dovetail shaped to complimentally interfit the groove 111. A quiescent die 119 is disposed below the movable die 113 and supported from the housing 81. Aligned transverse bores are formed in the sidewalls of the housing 81 for passage of the wire 23 as shown in FIG. 6.

The movable die 113 is biased upwardly away from the quiescent die 119 by means of a pair of tension springs and 127 which are connected on their upper extremities to studs 129 and 131 carried in the housing 81 and on their lower ends to studs 133 and 135 carried in one end of the transverse swaging head 109.

In operation of the attachment A shown in FIGS. 1 through 4, rotation of the driving cam 21 is synchronized with the feed apparatus (not shown) of the forming machine whereby the attachment A will be actuated each time a new length of wire 23 is advanced into such attachment for swaging. When a length of wire to be swaged is so advanced, the cam 21 will be rotated into the position shown in FIG. 1 to engage the roller 59 and drive the lower extremity of the rocker arm 19 to the left thereby rotating such rocker arm clockwise. Such rotation of the rocker arm 1) drives the push rod 17 to the left to overcome the bias of the spring 71 and drive the movable die 15 to the left thereby swaging the wire 23 against the quiescent die 13.

Continued revolving of the drive cam 21 frees the lower end of the rocker arm 19 to permit such arm to rotate counterclockwise (FIG. 1) under the influence of the tension spring 71 to push the movable die and the push rod 17 to the right. The dies 13 and 15 will then be spaced apart to permit the feed apparatus ,(not'shown) to advance the wire 23 to move the swagged portion into position for final forming by the forming machine and to move a new length of wire 23 into position on the quiescent die l3 for subsequent swaging.

For proper and efficient operatiomthe stroke of the movable die 15 must be accurately adjusted for different diameter wires 23. This is accomplished by loosening the set screw 55 (FIG. 4) and fitting a wrench over the hexagon head 51 of the eccentric fitting 45 and rotating such fitting on the shaft 47 to move the pivot end of the rocker arm 19 closer or further away from the push rod 17 to thereby adjust such stroke. The set screw 55 will then be tightened to cause the rocker arm 19 to grip the fitting 45 and maintain its orientation.

Operation of the apparatus A is substantially similar to operation of the apparatus A and may be utilized to swage lengths of wires 23 fed through the bores in the sides of the housing 81 and between the dies 1 l3 and H9. Again, the cam 91 is synchronized with a feed mechanism (not shown} whereby it will contact the roller 97 after a length of wire 23 has been moved into position on the quiescent die 119 (N0. 7) from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shown in FIG. 8. Such clockwise rocking of the arm 93 will move the convex bearing surface 97 downwardly against the concave bearing surface 99 on the upper extremity of the pushrod 101 to force such rod downwardly and swage the wire 23. The stroke of the push rod 101 is relatively short and the connect' ing link 103 will permit the required rotation of the arm 93 relative to the push rod 101.

When the cam 91 passes beyond the roller 97, the tension springs 125 and 127 will effect retraction of the movable die 113 to its upper position shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 whereby the wire 23 may be advanced. It is of particular importance that the housing 81 is mounted from the shaft 87 so that the shock of operation is confined to such housing, thus reducing vibration and wear which may alter the stroke of the attachment.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the swaging attachment of present invention provides a convenient and economical means for swaging a workpiece in the same process as forming thereof. The attachment is of relatively sturdy construction to withstand the heavy forces required to effect the swaging.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A swaging attachment for an automatic forming machine having a rotary drive shaft, said attachment comprising:

a housing; 7

a quiescent swaging die supported in said housing;

a movable swaging die adjacent said quiescent die and movable through a stroke of a predetermined length to swage a workpiece against said quiescent die;

a cam driven by said rotary shaft;

a rocker arm for driving said movable die the length of said stroke;

pivot means mounting said rocker arm from said housing for engagement on one end with said cam and for operative engagement with said movable die at a point providing for a substantially constant mechanical force advantage greater than one throughout said stroke;and

drive means synchronized with said forming machine for coupling said cam with said movable swaging die to reciprocate said movable die against said quiescent die to swage said workpiece as it is fed over said stationary die whereby the swaged workpiece may be fed directly from said swaging attachment to said forming machine to be formed. l

2. A swaging a paratus as set forth in claim 10 wherein: said means inc udes a pivot shaft mounted on said machine,

said rocker arm carried on said pivot shaft and formed with a lever arm driven by said cam to reciprocate said movable swaging die.

3. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 that includes;

bias me ans normally biasing said movable die away from said quiescent die.

4v A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said coupling means includes a push rod connected on onev extremity with said movable swaging die and formed on its opposite extremity with a concave arcuate bearing surface1and said rocker arm being united with an arcuate convex hearing surface for complimentally fitting said concave hearing surface, said rocker arm being engaged by said cam to drive said push rod when said cam is rotated;

5. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein.

said quiescent die includes an aperture therethrough; and

said attachment includes a fitting projecting through said aperture and connected on one end with said movable die, and bias means coupled with said fitting for normally biasing said movable die away from said'quiescent die.

6. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said coupling means includes a push rod formed on one end with a transverse dovetail groove; and l said movable die includes a dovetail tongue formed to com plimentally fit said groove.

7. A sv aging attachment as set forth in claim 2 wherein:

said pivot shaft includes an eccentric fitting onwhich said rocker arm is mounted; and

said rocker arm includes releasable gripping means for gripping said eccentric fitting whereby such gripping means may be released and said eccentric fitting rotated to selectively move the axis of rotation of said rocker arm to adj ust the stroke of said movable head.

8. A swaging attachment asset forth in claim 4 wherein:

said coupling means includes a link pivotally connected on one end to said push rod and on its opposite end to said rocker arm.

9. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said housing is suspended from said drive shaft whereby said housing will absorb the shock of said movable die pounding against said workpiece.

10. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein: 7

said pivot means mounts said lever arm for engagement with said movable die at a point which will provide for a substantially constant force advantage of at least five. 

1. A swaging attachment for an automatic forming machine having a rotary drive shaft, said attachment comprising: a housing; a quiescent swaging die supported in said housing; a movable swaging die disposed adjacent said quiescent die and movable through a stRoke of a predetermined length to swage a workpiece against said quiescent die; a cam driven by said rotary shaft; a rocker arm for driving said movable die the length of said stroke; pivot means mounting said rocker arm from said housing for engagement on one end with said cam and for operative engagement with said movable die at a point providing for a substantially constant mechanical force advantage greater than one throughout said stroke; and drive means synchronized with said forming machine for coupling said cam with said movable swaging die to reciprocate said movable die against said quiescent die to swage said workpiece as it is fed over said stationary die whereby the swaged workpiece may be fed directly from said swaging attachment to said forming machine to be formed.
 2. A swaging apparatus as set forth in claim 10 wherein: said means includes a pivot shaft mounted on said machine, said rocker arm carried on said pivot shaft and formed with a lever arm driven by said cam to reciprocate said movable swaging die.
 3. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 that includes: bias means normally biasing said movable die away from said quiescent die.
 4. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein: said coupling means includes a push rod connected on one extremity with said movable swaging die and formed on its opposite extremity with a concave arcuate bearing surface; and said rocker arm being formed with an arcuate convex bearing surface for complimentally fitting said concave bearing surface, said rocker arm being engaged by said cam to drive said push rod when said cam is rotated.
 5. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein: said quiescent die includes an aperture therethrough; and said attachment includes a fitting projecting through said aperture and connected on one end with said movable die, and bias means coupled with said fitting for normally biasing said movable die away from said quiescent die.
 6. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 10 wherein: said coupling means includes a push rod formed on one end with a transverse dovetail groove; and said movable die includes a dovetail tongue formed to complimentally fit said groove.
 7. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 2 wherein: said pivot shaft includes an eccentric fitting on which said rocker arm is mounted; and said rocker arm includes releasable gripping means for gripping said eccentric fitting whereby such gripping means may be released and said eccentric fitting rotated to selectively move the axis of rotation of said rocker arm to adjust the stroke of said movable head.
 8. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 4 wherein: said coupling means includes a link pivotally connected on one end to said push rod and on its opposite end to said rocker arm.
 9. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said housing is suspended from said drive shaft whereby said housing will absorb the shock of said movable die pounding against said workpiece.
 10. A swaging attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said pivot means mounts said lever arm for engagement with said movable die at a point which will provide for a substantially constant force advantage of at least five. 